Qatar Nassau Stakes |
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| Group 1, Goodwood 15:35 £600,000 guaranteed, Fillies & Mares, 3yo plus, 1m 1f 197y, Class 1  |
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Aidan O’Brien’s Opera Singer showed star potential with her stunning victory in the Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc weekend at ParisLongchamp. However, as a three-year-old, she has had to settle for minor honours, finishing third in the Irish 1,000 Guineas and runner-up in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot behind Porta Fortuna, who has since added another Group One title in the Falmouth at Newmarket.
Ready to step up to a mile and a quarter on the Sussex Downs, Opera Singer will also face her elders for the first time.
Leading the competition is John and Thady Gosden’s Emily Upjohn, added to the field for £40,000 after connections decided against a rematch with her Pretty Polly Stakes conqueror Bluestocking in the King George at Ascot on Saturday. The Gosdens also have the Cheveley Park Stud-owned Inspiral in contention. Inspiral was last seen finishing sixth against the boys in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the Royal meeting, but the six-time Group One winner might skip Goodwood in favour of the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on August 11, a race she has won for the past two seasons.
“It will be Goodwood or the Jacques le Marois and we can’t do both, so we’re just keeping all options open,” said Cheveley Park’s managing director Chris Richardson.
“We will see what happens and we’re just going to keep our options open and try and get it right this time and know where we are going.
“But she seems in good form and she looks great.”
Get ready for a historic run! 🏇✨ Prix de Diane winner, Sparkling Plenty, is set to race in the Nassau Stakes (Gr1) on August 1st at @Goodwood_Races.
— FRBC (@FRBC_Official) July 24, 2024
Could she be the first French-trained filly to win since the 1960s? Don't miss it!#OwninFrance #TraininFrance #BreedinFrance pic.twitter.com/tRkMqiIzKx
Opera Singer is one of five three-year-olds in contention, with Roger Varian’s 1000 Guineas heroine Elmalka and Patrice Cottier’s French Oaks winner Sparkling Plenty also in the mix along with the Paddy Twomey-trained Irish Oaks third Purple Lily and Andrew Balding’s Eclipse fourth See The Fire.
Ralph Beckett’s pair of Doha and Lady Boba, Joseph O’Brien’s Lumiere Rock, Gary and Josh Moore’s Novus and Stay Alert from Hughie Morrison’s yard are the other hopefuls.
Qatar Nassau Stakes
(British Champions Series)
£600,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 1m 1f 197y, Class 1
12 remaining entries
Going: Soft, Good to Soft in places
NO. FORM HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY
1 41-212 Doha 4 9-9 Ralph Beckett
2 27-542 Emily Upjohn 5 9-9 John & Thady Gosden Kieran Shoemark
3 111-46 Inspiral 5 9-9 John & Thady Gosden
4 121-23 Lady Boba 4 9-9 Ralph Beckett
5 136-54 Lumiere Rock 4 9-9 Joseph O'Brien
6 1-7205 Novus 4 9-9 Gary & Josh Moore
7 690-15 Stay Alert 5 9-9 Hughie Morrison
8 1-314 Elmalka 3 9-1 Roger Varian James Doyle
9 211-32 Opera Singer 3 9-1 A P O'Brien
10 1-1253 Purple Lily 3 9-1 P Twomey
11 23-054 See The Fire 3 9-1 Andrew Balding Oisin Murphy
12 135611 Sparkling Plenty 3 9-1 P Cottier
